According to a recent study, executed by a team of researchers from the University of Leicester, UK, and published in the journal Environmental Microbiology, air pollution may affect human health by changing bacteria in respiratory tract.

The study shows that black carbon, a main component in the polluted air, significantly changes the way how bacteria grow and form biofilms and that can alter their survival in the lining of airways and their resistance to antibiotics.

First author Julie Morrisey, an associate professor of microbial genetics, says: “Our research could initiate an entirely new understanding of how air pollution affects human health. It will lead to enhancement of research to understand how air pollution leads to severe respiratory problems and perturbs the environmental cycles essential for life.”